Blackout
by cautiousAlbatross
Summary: Karkat and Terezi are snowed in during a power cut.


You were planning on going out today. Terezi had helped you to pick out a movie, and you'd booked the cinema tickets online. That, however, was before it started snowing at ten in the morning, and kept on snowing. By twelve, you were too frozen to continue playing outside, so you retreated indoors. By one, there was so much snow outside the door you couldn't open it. By two, you'd given up all hope of ever leaving the house again. Now it's half past and you're online, cancelling your tickets, whilst Terezi makes hot chocolate. You're just trying to load the website for what feels like the ten millionth time, when your internet cuts out.

"God fucking damn it!" you shout, slamming your fist against the desk, "What now?!"

"Karkat," Terezi says, sticking her head out of the kitchen, "Power's out."

"Oh."

You glare at your laptop screen, feeling your face heat up.

"Must be because of the snow," she says, glancing out of the window, "It still hasn't stopped."

"Well, that's just fantastic," you say, rolling your eyes and shutting the laptop lid with a sharp snap.

"At least the hot chocolate's ready," she says, shrugging, and you laugh, "Maybe the power will come back on whilst we drink it."

"All right, fine," you say, pushing the laptop aside and following her through to the sitting room.

She sits down on the sofa, carefully placing the mugs of hot chocolate on the coffee table, and pats the cushion next to her. Sighing, you sit down next to her, and take your mug. You sip it, then smile.

"It's good," you say, leaning back into the sofa.

"Good," she says, cradling her mug between her hands and leaning against you, "Maybe we can watch a movie when the power comes back on."

"Yeah," you say, wrapping your arm around her, "Or we could use my laptop."

She nods, and takes a sip of her hot chocolate.

"Mm, it is good!"

You laugh, nearly slopping yours all over your lap.

"Careful!" she says, leaning away from you, and you roll your eyes.

"It's fun, I wasn't gonna spill any," you say, pouting.

"If you say so," she says, leaning back against you and sipping her hot chocolate.

You put your arm back around her, grumbling under your breath.

You sit like that for nearly an hour, long after the dregs of your hot chocolate have gone cold, waiting for the power to come back on. By the time your watch reads twenty past three, you're resigned to spending the evening in darkness.

"We should get candles and stuff out while it's still light," Terezi says, sitting up straight, and you nod listlessly.

"Come on," she adds, standing up and tugging your arm gently.

"I'm hungry," you complain, reluctantly standing up.

"You get some food together, I'll get the candles," she says, propelling you towards the kitchen.

"Fine," you sigh, rolling your eyes.

In the kitchen, you pull open the silent fridge and search for something you can eat cold. You find a bag of slightly limp salad and some unidentified dip – you think it might be hummus, but you aren't entirely sure. Your cupboards provide a couple of slices of nearly-stale bread and some old crackers, which you spread with butter and split between two plates. You artlessly dump some salad and probably-hummus on each plate and carry both back through to the living room, where Terezi is already setting up some candles.

"We should probably save those for when it gets dark," you say, putting the plates down on the coffee table, as she moves to light the first candle.

"We've got plenty more upstairs," she says, ignoring you and lighting the candles.

"Fine. Don't blame me when we have to sit around in the dark all evening."

She rolls her eyes and lights the last candle, then comes over and sits down next to you on the sofa.

"This was all I could find," you say, as she takes one plate and balances it on her lap, then raises one eyebrow at you.

"Looks like we need to go shopping," she says, picking up a limp piece of lettuce and inspecting it, before dipping it in her hummus and eating it.

"There might be a minor problem there," you say, nodding outside and biting into a cracker.

"Well, let's just hope we outlast the snow, then."

You laugh, and eat the rest of your cracker. The rest of your candlelit late lunch passes in a blur of bad jokes and stale food, and you both swear never to let yourselves run low on food again. You agree you'd be awful in an apocalypse – but at least you'd have plenty of candles.

Afterwards, you dump your plates in the sink and gather up all your blankets, then make a nest on the couch and curl up in it. It's starting to get dark outside, and the room is dimly lit by flickering candles, just bright enough for you to see each other's faces.

"Cosy," Terezi says, giggling and snuggling up close to you.

"At least we're warm," you grumble, wrapping your arms around her and resting your chin on top of her head, "It's fucking cold without any power."

"Who'd have thought?" she says, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Shut up," you say, butting your chin against her head.

"Make me," she says, butting her head right back at you and making you bite your tongue.

You swear loudly, clutching at your mouth, and she giggles.

"Shut up."

She giggles some more, and you sigh.

"It's probably getting late," you say, glancing out at the darkening sky, "Maybe we should go to bed."

"Can't we sleep here?"

You look down at your little nest, one eyebrow raised, then shrug.

"I guess," you say.

She grins, and stands up, managing to extricate herself from the blankets with minimal difficulty.

"Hey, where are you going?" you ask, trying to stand up and falling over, nearly knocking a candle.

"To brush my teeth," she says, giving you a look that clearly says you're an idiot.

"Oh. Right. Yeah, me too."  
You untangle yourself from the blankets and follow her to the bathroom. Standing next to her at the basin, you brush your teeth, and try not to spit toothpaste everywhere when she pulls silly faces at you in the mirror.

It's freezing cold when you go back to the living room, and you're glad to return to your still-warm blankets. Terezi curls up next to you, like a living hot water bottle, and you bury your face in her hair, wrapping your body around hers.

"This is nice," you whisper, smiling a little.

"Mmm."

"Maybe we should do it every night."

"Mmm."

You smile, breathing in the scent of her hair and feeling the warmth of her body next to yours and thinking you could stay like this forever. As long as she's here, you don't care about the snow or the power or the food; all you care about is her.

Until the morning, at least, when you wake up stiff and frozen to see that more snow has fallen and the power is still out. That, you'll admit, is annoying.


End file.
